Muhammad: (3) That is because those...

"That" is a demonstrative pronoun referring to what has passed regarding the misguidance, the absolution of sins, and the reformation. It is the subject (mubtada’), and its predicate (khabar) is His saying, the Exalted: "Because those who disbelieve follow falsehood, and those who believe follow the truth from their Lord." That is to say, that [aforementioned state] exists because the former followed falsehood and the latter followed the truth.

The meaning of "the truth" is its well-known sense. Ibn al-Mundhir and others narrated from Mujahid that "falsehood" is interpreted as Satan. In al-Bahr, it is stated that Mujahid said: "Falsehood is Satan and everything he commands; and 'the truth' is the Messenger and the Law (Shari'ah)." It was also said: "Falsehood is that which is of no benefit."

Al-Zamakhshari permitted the possibility that "that" is the predicate of an omitted subject, and "because" (bi-anna) and what follows are in the place of an accusative state (hal). The estimation would be: "The matter is 'that'," meaning: it is as mentioned, while being associated with this cause. The agent governing this state is either the meaning of the demonstrative pronoun or an implied verb such as "He established it" or "He confirmed it," since the sentence indicates that, for the content of every piece of news implies it. Abu Hayyan countered this by stating that it involves committing to an omission without necessity.

The prepositional phrase "from their Lord" is in the position of a state (hal) in any case. The speech—namely, His saying, the Exalted: "That is because..." up to His saying: "...from their Lord"—is an explicit clarification of what the preceding speech implied regarding causality, due to its construction upon the relative pronoun (al-mawsul). Scholars of rhetoric call this "tafsir" (explication). An example of this is what al-Zamakhshari composed for himself:

The knights fall from their horses as the young women are afflicted beneath the veils; The swords fall from their hands in bewilderment, and the necklaces are shaken from their necks.

This contains an explication via the method of laff wa nashr (folding and unfolding), just as in the verse, and it is among the beauties of speech.

"Likewise," meaning: like that wondrous manner, "does God set forth for the people their parables," meaning: for their sake. This refers to the conditions of the two parties—the believers and the disbelievers—and their descriptions, which run in their strangeness like proverbs. These include the believers’ following of the truth and their success and prosperity, and the disbelievers’ following of falsehood and their failure and loss.

It is also permitted that "setting forth parables" implies analogy and comparison, such that He, the Exalted, made the following of falsehood a parable for the deeds of the disbelievers, and the misguidance a parable for their failure; and the following of the truth a parable for the deeds of the believers, and the absolution of sins a parable for their success. The demonstrative "that" refers to what the preceding speech contained. It is also permitted that the pronoun in "their parables" refers to the people.